Former Portsmouth school worker pleads guilty to charges he had sex with girl

By JAMES A. KIMBLEUnion Leader Correspondent

BRENTWOOD - A former Portsmouth school department worker has pleaded guilty to felonious sexual assault and other charges involving his online solicitation of a 14-year-old girl.

.Kenneth Kimber, 34, of Portsmouth, is being held at county jail awaiting sentencing on Nov. 14 in Rockingham County Superior Court...Kimber entered guilty pleas to single counts of felonious sexual assault, indecent exposure and two counts of prohibited uses of a computer, according to County Attorney James Reams...He could face up to 3 ½ to 7 years in state prison on each of the four charges. Prosecutors have not yet said what kind of sentence they will recommend to a judge next month...Kimber worked for the Portsmouth school district's information technology department and coached a boy's basketball team at Noble High School in Berwick, Maine, at the time of his arrest...He was fired from both jobs after his arrest by Portsmouth police earlier in the year...The plea deal happened just as Kimber was readying for trial in the case...Prior to his plea agreement, Kimber suggested to a judge that he was going to rely on an alibi defense to counter claims that he had sexual relations with the girl...Prosecutors accused Kimber of communicating with a high school student through Facebook between Feb. 3 and Feb. 11 in an attempt to get her to his apartment...Kimber sent the girl a picture of his genitals and an explicit message before picking her up and driving her to his apartment, according to prosecutors...Defense lawyer Joseph Prieto suggested prior to last week's guilty plea that his client could have been elsewhere on Feb. 3 - Super Bowl Sunday - when prosecutors say he was soliciting the girl to come to his apartment...Kimber's schedule that week was also a hectic one of “both working and coaching every day,” according to Prieto...Kimber was arrested in February on eight charges for allegedly communicating with the girl and sending her an explicit photo through Facebook. He was then indicted on charges of attempted felonious sexual assault, five counts of indecent exposure, two counts of certain uses of a computer prohibited and one count of interference of custody...jkimble@newstote.com..